End The Politics Of Labels And Sex Education, Urges International Abstinence Association

November 19, 2006 – 4:27 pm | posted in Sexual Health / STDs

What do Americans really want adolescents to learn about sex? Do they want young people taught to have “protected” sex (despite the continued risks) or to avoid unhealthy behaviors, including sexual activity? A recent poll published in the November 2006 issue of Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine, indicated that abstinence was the clear favorite of respondents. American adults overwhelmingly support risk-avoidance education (primary prevention) as the education for school-age kids. The poll also reinforced what we know about parents: they emphatically desire that children receive abstinence education.

Traditional school-based sex education that emphasizes contraception as a chief method of prevention is archaic. In its 30+ years of existence, it has never been shown to decrease teen pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases. It has also possibly contributed to rising rates of depression (directly linked to adolescent sexual activity) due to its failure to recognize and instruct on the known links between risk behaviors. Drug-use, sexual activity, and other high-risk behaviors and feelings are interrelated. Adolescents who initiate health-risk behaviors such as sexual intercourse and substance abuse at an early age frequently have poorer health later in life, lower educational attainment, less economic productivity than their peers, and higher rates of depression.

Sex education needs to “move beyond politics,” to do what really works. The emerging field of abstinence education, as recognized and funded by the federal government, is much more comprehensive and holistic in its approach. Early predictors show that young people are responding in positive ways to these primary prevention messages.

Furthermore, labels for sex/health education types such as “abstinence- only,” “abstinence-plus,” “comprehensive sex education,” and others are politically-laden and superficial. A program’s goal is either teach kids how to have sex — with or without “protection” (secondary prevention) or how to be healthy by avoiding threats to their health (primary prevention). Adolescents who engage in sexual activity are at risk, whether or not they use a condom. In all other areas of prevention and health education we provide students with clear risk-avoidance messages. Political lines will be erased by addressing this issue in the same public health risk-avoidance language that we address all other imminent threats to the health of our children.

The International Abstinence Association is a leading global voice that provides a professional network promoting the avoidance of health-risk behaviors.

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